Syncope
by JB5391
Summary: Hermione has a bad day in the Potions lab and faints. Who will look after her? Based in fifth year. No mention of the fluffy pink toad, however. Slight mention of abuse from secondary character. OOC!Slytherins. Apologies for naff ending. Dedicated to Healer Pomfrey, Helen and Christina.


**Syncope**

by JB5391

**I dedicate this story to Corinna (healerpomfrey), whose stories I love and to my teacher Helen, and Christina, the poor souls who experienced me keeling over by the GeneticAnalyser in the PCR lab at Teesside Uni. I think I gave everyone quite a fright, including myself, but after fluids, chocolate and taking it easy for a few days, I was fine. **

**Yes there are a few OOC Slytherin characters, but I wanted a story where they are portrayed in a good light. I read one the other day and it was quite refreshing. Cunning does not equal evil.**  
**Therefore warnings: OOC!SS/DM/PP, Slight spoiler-ish mention (although they shouldn't be by now) for CoS. Primarily its the OOCness.**

**Hope you enjoy, please review. Apologies for the naff ending.**

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"I can't believe how warm it's becoming in here," Harry said, whilst stirring ground willow bark into his Anti-pyrexial draft. His button was undone and his tie was loose. Most of the students were in similar states of dress; however, the thick woollen robe of the uniform had to remain on.

"Yeah, mate, it's like one of those muggle hot rooms where they get all sweaty… saunta… sauna?" replied Ron, after hearing Harry's correction. "I wish we could take our robes off though, I'm gopping!"

Hermione, who was feeling quite tired after the long, hot session glared at him. "You know why we can't take our robes off, Ronald. They act as muggle lab-coats, protecting both our uniforms and our skin. A single splash of a corrosive acid or alkali solution could give us serious burns, enough to warrant a trip to the Burns unit at Saint Mungo's. Even the muggles who don't have the magical aspect of potion making within chemistry have the same risks with chemicals. This is one of the first things taught and even students at muggle schools and universities have to wear lab coats- some even specially designed for certain areas of study, such as microbiology…" She broke off, seeing Ron's glazed look. Harry, on the other hand, was nodding.

"Don't forget oven cleaner and gloves," he said with a frown, glancing at his hand. The Dursley's were horrid in this regard- Dudley had even shredded the gloves once when his Aunt Petunia had asked him to use the Oven Pride before the infamous dinner party before second year. It had not been a pleasant experience and he had no wish to repeat it. "Burns like a…"

"Mr. Potter…"

At the sound of the silky voice, Harry fell silent and gulped, glad his professor hadn't heard his bad language, and slowly turned towards the tall, dark man standing behind him, where he found Severus Snape stood with an eyebrow raised and arms folded across his chest, robes draped around him like a theatrical Dracula.

"Unless you and your partners-in-crime," he sneered, "wish to spend this evening in detention, I suggest most strongly you stop your infernal babbling and carry on with your draft." His dark eyes lingered on Hermione's face, before snapping back to the raven-haired teenager. "Shame your potions theory does not show the same depth of knowledge and understanding. Now back to work." The potions professor stalked away to the Slytherin side of the dungeon classroom to inspect their work and the trio carried on in silence.

They worked a bit longer before Snape called everyone to the front to demonstrate a particularly complex step. The class had to circle round the desk for a clear view. Hermione at this point was feeling the heat and held herself up on the edge of the desk, whilst observing the professor. Her breathing was a bit faster than normal and she could feel her heart racing. She felt a bit odd…

'_Curiouser and curiouser_,' she thought, just like her favourite book. After the demonstration, everyone was dismissed back to their benches but the brown-eyed girl remained, her hands spread and gripping the table for dear life.

A pair of sapphire eyes had noticed that her nemesis had not made her way back to her station and furrowed in confusion. Pansy then nudged her neighbour and indicated the heavily panting girl with her chin.

"Granger… are you alright?" a supercilious voice called out. "Granger…" Draco sounded a bit uncertain the second time and it showed in his voice. The reply was faint but he heard it, as did the dark haired professor, who hadn't realised as he was already rebuking Gryffindor Seamus Finnegan for miscounting the number of figure-of-eight swirls in the step, and turned towards the Ravenclaw in Gryffindor robes.

The scion of the Malfoy line had left his bench along with Pansy and suggested quietly to Hermione that they should leave the room. Hermione, too focused on trying to stay conscious whilst black spots were filling her line of vision, hadn't realised who her knight in shining armour was when she grasped his wrist in what muggles would call a Vulcan death grip. However, as soon as her sweaty hands had released their grip from the table, staying upright went straight out of the window. Draco's arm shot round her tiny waist, whilst the dark-haired Pansy had taken Hermione's other hand, before they began to pull her out of the room.

Severus Snape, in the meantime had opened the heavy wooden door and transfigured a stool into a heavy door-stopper, and came forward to the pair of Slytherins holding up a terrorised, hyperventilating Hermione, whose vision had almost disappeared under the swarm of black spots that had appeared, helping her quickly out of the room.

He pulled her a short distance from the door and told her to sit down. The barely conscious Gryffindor had reached the wall and whilst leaning against it had simply slid down the wall so she was squatting, before shifting her feet slightly to complete her descent onto the icy floor.

Hermione's vision had almost immediately started to improve once she left the humid classroom. She heard a soothing voice telling her to take some deep breaths and to try and slow them down, whilst a cool hand lay on her sweating brow. "Bit warm…" she heard before the voice told her to undo her robe. She undid the silver clasp on her robe and concentrated on her breathing, which had become very rapid and shallow during the affair.

"Good girl. That's it, you're doing great." She turned towards the silken voice and opened her eyes. Severus Snape was kneeling next to her, concern obvious in the obsidian darkness, whilst her Slytherin rescuers were stood on the opposite side. "Miss Granger, do you have a bottle of water or something similar you can drink from?" Hermione nodded. At this, one of the Slytherins slipped back into the classroom.

After this the snarky professor turned towards the platinum-haired boy remaining. "Draco, would you mind staying with Miss Granger whilst I dismiss the rest of the class?" The Slytherin curtly nodded towards his Head-of-House whilst replying affirmatively. At his reply, the Slytherin professor spun around and returned to the dungeon room and skirted around a smug-looking Pansy, who had just won a fight with the remaining two thirds of the trio as to who was bringing the curly-haired student her bottle and was skipping towards the remaining couple in the corridor.

Hermione took hold of the proffered bottle with shaking hands and immediately started gulping down the cool water from the specially charmed container. A gentle hand pulled the glorious bottle away from Hermione's face, "Take it easy, you'll be sick gulping it down like that," Pansy admonished. "I know it's important to re-hydrate yourself, but slow down otherwise you'll end up in the Dragon's domain with a drip in your hand." Hermione blinked at this, not expecting the Slytherin girl to care whether or not she vomited and raised her eyebrows at the stunning girl's description of the Hospital Wing Matron Poppy Pomfrey. Her Slytherin counterpart merely smirked. Draco conjured a bowl filled with water and cooling solution and soft cloths. He pulled one of the pristine cloths out and wrung it out so it was damp but not dripping wet and placed it on the back of her neck, before proceeding to place the second on her forehead, where Pansy had just pulled away her damp curls. Hermione moaned at the cold sensation and pulled the cloth off her forehead so she could cool her hot cheeks.

"Thanks, both of you. You didn't have to do this." Hermione stated, looking both of them in the eye. "I really appreciate it."

"Yes, because having the Professor peeling you off the floor is an acceptable alternative," Draco drawled as he rolled his eyes. The noise in the corridor crept up as the other fifth year Lions and Snakes began to exit the classroom. There were several calls of concern from the scarlet-clad students. Neville, Harry and Ron actually stopped by her to question her a bit more. After several assertions that she would be okay, and denying Neville's offers of Chocolate Frogs, they too left.

Snape's dragonskin boots could be heard before he again crouched down to Hermione's eye level. He asked how she was feeling and after her positive answer of "Much better", he gave a small, rare smile and vanished the bowl and cloths before helping her up and handed the Gryffindor her worn leather satchel, which he had brought out with him after dismissing the class.

"I suggest you take it easy for the rest of the day and ensure you have plenty of fluids and have a decent lunch. I would also avoid any strenuous exercise for the next few days, until you feel better. You're likely to feel out of sorts and a bit weak for a little while." Hermione nodded and thanked the Professor and the two Slytherins again before they all headed up to the Great Hall for lunch.

FIN.

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**AN: Thanks for reading. Any reviews/constructive criticism welcome.**


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